Martinez-Shamhalaev Featherweight Tourney Final Set for Bellator 90 in Salt Lake City

Bellator Fighting Championships officials announced on Friday
that Martinez and Shamhalaev will square off at Bellator 90 on Feb.
21. The event takes place at the Maverik Center in Salt Lake City,
Utah, and will also include the semifinals of the promotion’s
upcoming light heavyweight tournament. The evening’s main draw will
be broadcast live on Spike TV, while the preliminary card airs on
Spike.com.

Martinez and Shahbulat were originally scheduled to meet at
Bellator 83 on Dec. 7, but the 29-year-old Russian had to
withdraw from the bout after experiencing symptoms consistent with
food poisoning. The winner of the featherweight tournament receives
$100,000 and a shot at the 145-pound belt.

“To have the opportunity to fight in Salt Lake City for the
Bellator featherweight tournament championship is just a dream come
true,” said Martinez, a native of West Jordan, Utah. “Utah has a
great base of MMA fans, but we’ve never had a big MMA promotion
come to Salt Lake City, so it’s a great honor to be headlining
Utah’s first large scale MMA event.”

Martinez carries a five-fight winning streak into his showdown with
Shamhalaev, including tournament triumphs over Nazareno
Malegarie and Wagnney
Fabiano. The 25-year-old victory MMA representative has tasted
defeat just twice in 16 professional appearances to date.

Shamhalaev, 29, punched his ticket to the featherweight final with
a pair of first-round knockouts, stopping Cody
Bollinger in 4:49 at Bellator 76 and finishing Mike
Richman in 1:45 at Bellator 79. Unbeaten in his last 10
outings, Shamhalaev has not lost since he was submitted by current
UFC talent Khabib
Nurmagomedov in November 2009.

“A fight between Rad and Shahbulat would be special anywhere you
put it,” Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “But to have the
opportunity to make this fight happen in Salt Lake City with the
ties Rad has to Utah is an incredible opportunity we couldn’t pass
up. It’s been a long time coming, but Feb. 21 is shaping up to be a
huge night of fights.”